A pilot getting ready to board, this sight may become a thing of the past in Sweden according to an article today from the newspaper Göteborgs Posten. An inquiry has been carried out by the Swedish Government into making pilotage more effective, one of the proposals is that ships can be piloted from land with the use of modern techniques available to navigators today. An overhaul of the pilotage legislation is also proposed as well as increased pilot dispensations for ships that are regular visitors to ports.
No surprise to read in the article that Pilots are against the idea of piloting from land by VHF and or computer, one pilot said that you have to be onboard to be able to steer a ship correctly, to be able to feel the characteristics of a ship. I agree in part with the Pilots but also feel that there are many occasions where the services of a pilot are not required, and in some ports you can be delayed because you have to wait for a pilot, to take you out on a 15 minute pilotage, you may have to wait a few hours for that 15 minutes.
The answer is not easy, but more flexibility is required in some cases and compulsory pilotage should be continued where local knowledge is important for safe berthing of ships, or ships carrying dangerous goods
The suggestions are hardly new thinking in any case, in Rotterdam you get a VHF pilot if the weather is too bad for a pilot to board, a bit of an irony really, if the weather is too bad for the pilot to board they trust the master to navigate whereas in better weather you need a pilot on the bridge? Pilotage dispensations are hardly a new idea either, ferry Masters have been getting dispensations for years, more widespread issuing of dispensations will have to be carefully thought through though, an oil spill or collision in port with no pilot on board is unwelcome to say the least.
The real reason for the inquiry is probably more likely to do with the difficulty in finding enough qualified people to do the job of pilot, a problem across the industry, than any need for using new technology. New technology didn’t help the container ship LT Cortesia from going aground in the English Channel, and you can bet your last dollar that it would never have happened had they a deep sea pilot onboard.
Lots Utredninging ( Pilotage inquiry) in Swedish
Göteborgs Posten article.in Swedish
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Tim, having a pilot on board doesn’t necessarily mean you are in good hands.
case in point, the Cosco Busan collision with the SF bay bridge in november…
Hi bothenook, true enough, the pilot is not infallible, but the odds are that you will be at more risk without the pilot. In any case the master is always in command and thus responsible for his ship even under pilotage, with the exception of the Panama Canal as far as I know. Thanks for commenting, Tim.
Hi Tim,
Last I heard Rotterdam will need to drop their VHF pilotage because of EU directives.
You can flow as much information into a ship’s bridge if you wish, but the filtering and identifying the hazards, plus the local knowledge is vital for safe navigation. Hence the need for pilots
Besides in Rotterdam’s bad weather they only guide you to within the breakwaters, that’s where the pilot boards and guides the ship to the berth.
All instruments and information comes with flaws, mostly hidden!